Workaholic
by EdwardVanElric
Summary: Winry always put her children before her work, but sometimes it can't be helped. Luckily, her 'stay-at-home dad' husband is there to pick up the slack.
Woop this is rushed and I'm...honestly not that good at writing but? Dad!Ed is my favorite thing ever so of course I'm gonna write about it?!

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It was of no shock and all too well known to everyone in Resembool that Winry Rockbell-now Elric- was in fact, a workaholic. Every fiber of her being screamed mechanic and that voice had always been the loudest and proudest, always making itself known by way of grease stains and the pungent scent of oil and grime.

Now, a new voice sounds from the young engineer.

At the age of 25 she was a married mother of three; two sons and a daughter, all still so small, so naive, still learning and growing, not yet surpassing the age of eight, either of them. Caiden, her oldest, was a spitting image of his father, Edward, and took after his mother. Rita, her daughter, was nearly identical to her mother, but took after her father in more ways she could count on her fingers. Now their youngest, infant Allen, was a beautiful mix of them both with just a hint of Ed's brother, Alphonse.

During the early stages of motherhood and through her third child, Winry had almost always put her family first-even when her hands itched to touch a wrench and sit in the evident, worn -out groove in her workbench. Edward had been such an irresponsible teenager that it was almost scary to see him instantly morph into a caring, responsible parent. A fear of turning into his father, was what Winry had pegged the notion down to being, and while Edward wouldn't admit it, she knew, and surely did everyone else. Hohenheims disappearance was no secret in the small town of Resembool and Edward would die before leaving his children the way his father had.

Now Winry, of course, felt the same way. There was no way she would ever abandon her children, leave them without cause, to wonder and cry and even blame themselves the way Edward had done in his own experience. She could, however, become deeply engrossed with her work, as she had always done in the past. She sits at her desk and instantly melts into the seat and could stay there for hours-days, if the order was important enough.

And the importance of her most recent order caused her to do just that.

She slept and she ate and she showered of course, but after every nap, every meal, every quick dip in the shower she'd be back at her work bench, tinkering away. This went on for a few weeks as she perfected the automail limbs while taking care of other orders along the way.

Now Edward, he had always been used to taking on the responsibilities of the house and the children once in a while, and he knew, he could always tell when it was going to be some time before balance would be restored. He didn't mind, he didn't fight it, he didn't find it the least bit troubling. He was, albeit, run ragged by the end of each day and was often asleep before Winry even thought of making it to the bedroom.

The atmosphere in Winry's work room was calm and serene as she finished the final limb, setting it aside and stretching her back. She had worked through the night, deciding who needed sleep when she was so close to being done? Checking the time -it was seven am-, she knew her children were just getting ready for school and hopped up to get them ready and see them out. When she turned the corner into the kitchen she paused, taking in the sight before her.

Edward had the house phone cradled on one side between his tousled blond hair and strong shoulder, in the other arm he held their youngest, Allen. He was just finishing making breakfast for the other two as he rambled on about patient information to one of their regular clients-or their clients doctor, she figured. A patient file sat open next to the stove, not so close as to cause alarm, and Rita was at his leg desperately trying to get his attention. Every other word out of his mouth was "hang on", or "Rita, sweety-" and he just sounded exhausted, but there was still sunshine in his eyes and some pep in his step as he served the children their breakfasts and turned off the stove.

Altogether, the atmosphere of her kitchen was quite the opposite of her work room.

Edward spotted Winry and smiled, handing her their son and switching the phone to his other shoulder, giving the other a good shake to get the kinks out. He continued to answer the doctor's questions while starting on the kids second meals of the day: Their lunches. Winry set Allen down in his high chair and began looking for bottles, catching Ed's hand motions from the corner of her eye.

'Middle drawer', he mouthed to her with a smile, then went back to his chores.

It was at this point she began to calculate in her mind just how long she had been out of touch with her family and sitting in her work room-nearly a month, she concluded with a sigh. A month of this for Edward-doing this alone, all of it, every day, sans weekends, when she'd faintly remember him offering her a chance to escape her stuffy work room and go get ice cream with her family.

And every time she had refused, more focused on her work. Usually something like this would be brushed off by the mother and she wouldn't think twice about what her family was like without her to balance the responsibilities of the bunch, but she had never seen what it was like when she fell into that trance.

Hectic, but still standing.

Edward finally bid the doctor goodbye and hung up, putting his hands on his hips for a just moment to recollect his thoughts and jumped right back into his task. With the lunches put together he called for the kids to speed up-but don't choke!-so he could get them on their way. He put their backpacks together-he had made sure to look over their homework the night before-and shoved the lunch bags in carefully around the papers and folders and things alike.

He finally stood still for more than ten seconds as he put his hands back to his hips in thought, then turned to Winry and smiled brightly at her. "You're awake this time! Can I leave Allen with you? I usually take him with me when I walk the kids to school."

Winry nodded in acceptance, then raised an eyebrow at him. "You walk them to school?"

It was her husbands turn to give her an inquisitive eye. "Yeah, every morning."

"Like, all the time?"

"Yes?"

She pouted, wondering how she had never noticed when he left in the mornings or when he came back-then it hit her: she was working! Even when she wasn't so engrossed with large orders as she had been this month, she would always head straight to her work room after she got the kids ready and ate breakfast.

"Actually, I'll walk with you, I'll get Allen ready real quick!" She said, rushing to change into jeans and a t-shirt. Slipping on her sandals she strapped Allen into his stroller and they were off, down the familiar road her and the Elric brothers had taken every morning in their youth.

The walk was short-something kids their age could handle alone-but walking with them was rather invigorating and the fresh air was like-well, a breath of fresh air. Despite still needing a shower for the day she felt new when she stepped out the door and breathed in the crisp morning air, smiling to the sky. It was warmer this morning than she remembered before, and summer was well approaching. She frowned, now, knowing that more work would come in and the kids would be home more often. They could sleep in and Edward wouldn't have to juggle the morning work of getting them ready and patient calls, but now it was a matter of keeping them entertained when they were bored with the outdoor world and making sure they didn't maim themselves in the process.

As they made their way back to the house Winry looked up at her husband, who had his eyes closed and was breathing evenly-you'd almost believe he was asleep. She nudged him slightly, enough to startle him and his head whipped around to look down at her.

Again, he smiled.

"What's up?"

She tried to match his smile with her own but to her it felt forced-by the look on Edward's face he could tell. "Well, I finished that order this morning."

"Good!" He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked, pulling her closer. "The kids want to go out for ice cream tonight. Are you coming?"

Usually, in a family as close as their own, a question like that wouldn't even need to be asked, but as the words escaped his mouth there was a hint of doubt, as if waiting for her to say 'no, I've got work to do, go ahead without me'.

Instead, his smile brightened when she nodded with an 'of course I am!' response. It was quiet again after this, and as they entered the house, she was ready to begin the daily task of cleaning when she noticed that, besides the kitchen, the house was nearly spotless. Save that he didn't have time to dust, Edward informed her that he had been keeping up with that as well through out the month and picked Allen up, taking him to the nursery to get him changed. Winry's arms dropped to her side as she stood in the middle of her living room-for once, not ravished with toys and books, but instead orderly, and she may say even beautiful.

Her jaw clenched and her shoulders tensed as she made her way up the stairs and into the nursery, quietly approaching the remaining two of her family and dropping her head against Edward's back without a word.

Edward, just finishing up changing their son, sighed, and his own shoulders dropped. "It's ok, you know."

Winry slowly tilted her head upward, roughing up her hair in the process. "What?"

Edward turned himself around, Allen in arms, and leaned against the changing table, smiling and letting Winry lean against him. "I know what's on your mind, I've known you long enough. It's ok."

"It's not-"

"You were busy, that was a HUGE order, and it was really important, and-"

"But it's not!" She pressed, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Exhausted gold met equally exhausted blue and she bit her lip, inhaling sharply. "Is it like this every time? You looked so busy, and tired, and stressed, and-"

"It's. Fine." Edward reiterated, tilting his head. "Yes, I am tired. Yes, I am stressed. How were you feeling this entire month working on that order?"

Winry hesitated, but answered truthfully. "Tired and stressed."

"You bring in the money for the household," he explained, adjusting Allen in his arms, "and I play dad, except it's not pretend dad this time like when we were kids and you forced me to play house. Even when we played pretend, you always wanted to be the big guns who made the money and went to work. And that was ok! It's still ok. It makes you happy, and taking care of the kids and house is what I enjoy doing. It's crazy, and sometimes Allen pukes on my shirt, but it beats working for the military and fighting monsters, like, any day. Trust me."

Winry brought her hands up to rest on Edward's hips, dropping her head. "I still feel bad."

"You shouldn't." He replied. "Even on normal days when you have orders you still help with the kids and everything so you're putting in a lot more effort than me. You get them ready for school and help them with their homework."

She looked up at him now. "You help me with orders sometimes. And patients-you take calls..."

"I do." He smiled, but it was more like a smirk. "So, we're even, right?"

She groaned and dropped her head again, pressing her forehead into his chest next to Allen, but she nodded, reluctantly so, and Edward ran his hand down her hair. "See? Not that hard. C'mon, go take a nap, you're starting to drool on me-you and Allen both, c'mon, up."

Winry smile and punched him in the shoulder lightly, making her way to their bedroom. She was surprised when Edward followed her with Allen, sitting on the bed beside her as she laid down.

"You gonna stay here til I fall asleep?" She asked cutely, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. He rolled his own and nodded, placing Allen in his lap so he could hold her hand.

"Might as well. You'll be out in like, ten seconds anyway."

His response was met with silence instead of a comeback and he glanced down at his already sleeping wife. "Or, two seconds, two seconds works."


End file.
